Docketing systems have historically included a calendar and a pencil as components. A lawyer or paralegal or secretary, acting as a docketer, identified a docket event in writing, on an appropriate date designation of the calendar. The docketer typically included reminder notes on the calendar in advance of a docket event. Docket events included dates such as a due date or a bar date or a court date.
The calendar and pencil have largely been supplanted or replaced by software that functions as an electronic calendar. The software includes a library of events that are typically the objects of a docket. The library also includes rules associated with the events. To use the software, a docketer identifies a particular matter, selects an event from the library and enters a significant date into the software. The significant date is one that the docketer desires to associate with the date, for the matter. The docketer enters data by using a keyboard and transferring information from a document to the software. The software activates rules associated with the event to generate significant docket dates. Some docketing software products automatically generate reminder dates in conjunction with the significant docket date. Docketers generate reports using the software. The reports provide a summary of docket dates and events associated with the dates for selected matters.
Docketers typically employ the calendar and pencil as a backup docket system, even though the docketers use the software as a primary system. The dual use insures that important docket dates are not lost.